BBC News
APOPOA landmine-detecting rodent in Cambodia has set a new world report to become the first mouse to reveal more than 100 mine and other deadly war relics.
Ronin, an American large pouched mouse, has uncovered 109 mines and 15 objects of unexploded ordnance since 2021, donation Apopo, which trains the creatures, said in a statement.
Cambodia remains littered with thousands of old weapons following about 20 years of civil war that ended in 1998.
The Guinness Book of World Records said that Ronin’s” important job” is making a real difference to people who have had to sit with the “fear that one misstep while going about their day-to-day lives had been their past”.
Apopo, which is based in Tanzania, currently has 104 rodent recruits, or HeroRATS, as the non-profit likes to call them.
The rats are trained to sniff out chemicals that are found in landmines and other weapons abandoned on battlefields. Because of their small size, the rats are not heavy enough to detonate the mines.
The rats can check an area the size of a tennis court in about 30 minutes, the charity says, whereas a human with a metal detector might take four days to clear the same land.
They can also detect tuberculosis, an infectious disease that commonly affects the lungs, far quicker than it would be found in a lab using conventional microscopy, Apopo says.
APOPORonin’s impressive work in Cambodia’s northern Preah Vihear province has surpassed the previous record held Magawa, a rat who sniffed out 71 mines and was presented with a gold medal for his heroism in 2020.
Since Apopo’s work began 25 years ago, the organisation has cleared 169, 713 landmines and other explosives worldwide- more than 52, 000 have been in Cambodia. The charity also works in other countries affected by war, including Ukraine, South Sudan and Azerbaijan.
There are still an estimated four to six million landmines and other exploded munitions buried in Cambodia, according to the Landmine Monitor.